


I FORGIVE U

by Moondragon8



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album)
Genre: Gen, Inspired By Tumblr, Reeducation (mentioned but not shown), Survivor Guilt, The Mailbox (Danger Days), Uh..., desert kinda shitty actually :(, hmm. im never sure what to put for these, that. should be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26220982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: We, at the Better Living Customer Office, are happy to hear from you.Yes, you. You are important.[....]To rejoin the city and enjoy our rehabilitation system, simply present yourself, unarmed, at the nearest Draculoid station in zone 1 with the code word “REBIRTH”.-have-a-better-day.tumblr.com
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	I FORGIVE U

**Author's Note:**

> lotta trigger warnings for this one citizens  
> -death (none graphic but theres a lot of it!)  
> -non-graphic injury and sickness  
> -depression  
> -mindwashing references
> 
> the italicized text is all from a response to an ask sent in on have-a-better-day.tumblr.com, check it out if you want to experience those 1984 feels
> 
> rainbow ruby--xe/xem
> 
> cactus owl--he/hir
> 
> lemon boy--he/him
> 
> sour apple--she/her
> 
> cold front--she/her or they/them

_The City would provide you with shelter, food, running water and health._

"What was the City like, Cold Front?" Sour Apple said one night.

Cold Front looked up from her can of PowerPup.

"....Cold," she said eventually. "Very cold, all the time, and...static. Lots of static."

Subtly, slowly, everyone else scooted a little closer to the fire. Looking around, Lemon Boy saw intrigue on Sour Apple's face, mild concern on Cactus Owl, and...

Rainbow Ruby looked scared.

That was Lemon Boy's first time seeing someone reacting to the City. Rainbow Ruby, fearless to a fault, was scared of Battery City, and Lemon Boy was too.

And Cold Front?

Cold Front didn't like talking about the City.

_You would provide the City with your work and your worth._

They never had a leader per se, but they always turned to Sour Apple. She was the strong one, the capable one, the one who comforted everyone else. She was their solid point.

One time, as she was lecturing Rainbow Ruby on proper blast wound bandaging, RR had said "Okay, Mom and Dad."

In an instant, everyone knew RR had gone too far.

Rainbow Ruby apologized over and over, but Sour Apple never was quite as pushy afterwards.  
_Everyone is important in Battery City, everyone has their place._

Cactus Owl was the last to join their group, and Lemon Boy knew he'd always felt strange about that.

"Everyone else has something," he had told Lemon Boy one day. "Sour Apple takes care of things, Cold Front notices things, you know things, and Rainbow Ruby can do almost anything."

"So can you," Lemon Boy said.

Cactus Owl shook hir head. "Not really."

Lemon Boy thought. "Well, you know everyone in the desert."

"Not everyone."

"Almost everyone."

"...Fine, okay, I'll give you that."

Lemon Boy squeezed hir hand. "See? You're important to us."

He forgot to say that Cactus Owl would have been important even if he didn't know everyone.

_And everyone is Better. Healthier._

Lemon Boy never knew Rainbow Ruby when xe wasn't recovering from some sort of injury or sickness.

"I don't get why I get sick so much more often then you," xe complained once. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? My immune system should be strong as fuck by now."

"It would be if you didn't keep finding new ways to endanger yourself," Sour Apple said. "Your body can't keep up."

It was funny then. It wasn't funny when Rainbow Ruby was too sick to hold a ray gun and they had to find a hospital and they all thought xe might actually die.

"Come on, you know better," Rainbow said as soon as xe was awake enough to talk again. "I'm fucking invulnerable!"  
_No more running._

"Keep running!" 

Rainbow Ruby loved that phrase. Xe said it all the time.

Xe was the most killjoy-like of them all. Bold, bright, brash, reckless. Laughed most, wore red.

Died first.

_No more fear._

Cactus Owl shook with silent tears as Lemon Boy clutched hir hand.

"I thought you were dusted," he said finally. "I thought you died."

"Killjoys never die," Lemon Boy lied.

Cactus Owl died how he lived--a scared kid pretending he wasn't.

_No more hunger._

One day a few days before the Thing happened, Lemon Boy walked in to see Sour Apple bent over her backpack, sorting through and mumbling to herself.

"We got enough food?" Lemon Boy had said.

"Yyyeah," Sour Apple said, giving one of those looks to Lemon Boy. "We'll make it."

"Apple, you aren't eating," Cold Front had said at the next meal.

"I'll be okay," Sour Apple said, fidgeting with her fork.

They all found a way to give her back some of the food she'd given up for them anyway.

Her last words to Lemon Boy were "Run".

_No more nightmares._

Cold Front had more nightmares. 

Well, that wasn't really true. She was just better at telling people when they had nightmares.

In her nightmares, she was always back in Battery City and something terrible was happening--she refused to specify.

When she woke up, she would go outside and run sand through her fingers until she was certain she was in the Zones.

As she and Lemon Boy had hid behind a cactus, she had run sand through her fingers, not speaking.

"Here," they said finally. One by one, they had handed the masks of their friends over to Lemon Boy. Cold Front had stopped fighting and collected the masks even with the Dracs still firing.

"Thanks," Lemon Boy said.

Cold Front had died a few minutes later.

_Only contentment._

He had put all their masks in the nearest mailbox as soon as it was safe to walk. 

Rainbow Ruby, Cactus Owl, Sour Apple, and Cold Front. One by one, the masks went in. BL/Ind had their bodies, the Witch had their souls.

Rainbow Ruby. Cactus Owl. Sour Apple. Cold Front.

Lemon Boy.

As he waited by the outpost, he half-missed the sensation of the mask on his face. 

His body would be safe with Better Living, uninjured and healthy. His mind would be safe too--dulled and maybe wiped, yes, but safe from nightmares and fear.

But his soul, which could never have survived in Battery City, was with the Witch. With his friends.

_And peace._

The desert seemed oppressively hot as the Draculoids arrived.

He couldn't wait to breathe conditioned air.

**Author's Note:**

> i guess im an angst writer now  
> (for this fandom anyway)  
> i blame entirely the wkil discord server <3


End file.
